


Time Has Changed Us Both

by buzzbuzz34



Series: RQG Femslash Week 2020 [2]
Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Confessions, F/F, Ghosts, Hospitals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:00:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23280598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buzzbuzz34/pseuds/buzzbuzz34
Summary: Cleo awakes in the hospital after defeating the knucker, with Betty at her side.  But the last words Betty had said to her before she lost consciousness were that she wasn't Betty at all.She was Bette.  Her Bette.
Relationships: Betty | Bette/Cleo (Rusty Quill Gaming)
Series: RQG Femslash Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1674166
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15
Collections: RQG Femslash Week 2020





	Time Has Changed Us Both

“Cleo! Cleo, hang on, please!”

Bette shut her eyes tight and tried to use all the strange magic she possessed to save Cleo, to bring her back from the brink of death, to seal her wounds and mend her bones. 

But Cleo simply groaned, and her breath escaped in a low rattle. Bette sobbed, knowing that she couldn’t save her beloved, even if she gave up all of herself to do so. 

“Cleo, I… if we die here, you have to know. I’m not Betty. I’m Bette. _Your_ Bette. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I… I love you, Cleo, I always have. I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

*

Cleo’s eyes opened wide and she practically launched herself out of the hospital bed in an instant. She looked all around her, half looking for a weapon and half looking for…

 **Her**.

“Betty?”

“It’s okay, I’m here.” She replied in soft tones, leaning forward so that she rested close beside Cleo’s bed. 

“Did we… did we kill it?”

“You did,” Bette replied with a proud smile. “The town suffered a lot of damage and several casualties, but all things considered, not our worst job. Do you remember what happened?”

“Sort of? I lost an arm?" She looked down at her side. "I was kind of hoping I'd dreamed that part. But no, I... really don't have an arm anymore. That's... a lot." She grimaced and looked away, back up at Bette. "Didn’t the knucker… eat me?”

Bette scrunched her face up. “Yeah, that’s… more or less what happened. And you sliced it up from the inside, and then you…”

“I fell. I…”

“You were really, _really_ badly injured. You almost…”

“You healed me,” Cleo said as she put the pieces together. “You gave up more and more of yourself to heal me. And you said… you said you were…” She creased her brow as she tried to remember through the pain and blood loss, staring through Bette’s now more transparent form. “You told me you were Bette. That if we died, you wanted me to know. And that you were sorry? How is that… I don’t understand.”

“I’m Bette. _Your_ Bette,” she stated quickly, her incorporeal hands still able to shake. “When the cultists killed me, Malphas-”

“The demon.”

“Yes. He… he brought me back somehow. I was supposed to serve him, but I didn’t care about that. I cared about finding you again. But I saw… I saw what happened to you when I died. You… you _slaughtered_ all those people.”

“They killed her! You! Bette! What was I supposed to do!?”

“I don’t know. But, you have to understand, after you did that, after I saw how your heart broke and filled with rage, how was I supposed to tell you who I was? I followed you for months, trying to find the right moment to tell you the truth. It wasn’t until Sam noticed me and tried to run me over that I couldn’t just hide anymore, but I was still so scared… I didn’t want to hurt you anymore.”

Cleo’s brows were furrowed as she listened to Bette’s words, trying to parse out the truth. “Why should I believe you? How can I believe that you’re actually Bette?”

“The first time you told me you loved me was that night when we sat on that hill to watch the full moon and the stars. I had packed a whole picnic, but you didn’t eat anything, you were so nervous. You said you were scared that I still didn’t see you as a lover, not seriously, but I just-”

“-you laughed.” Cleo interrupted, her eyes now wide and glistening. “You laughed and said you loved me too. And that nothing could break us apart, not prejudice, not our families, not time, none of it.” She took a deep breath and the tears started to fall down her face. “Oh, Bette, I… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Bette used all of her focus to reach for Cleo’s hand and set hers on top of it. It took more effort now to interact with the real world, but she would use every ounce of strength she had to hold onto Cleo. 

“I’m sorry too. I should’ve told you.”

“No, you were probably right. If you’d just come to me right after you died, I… I don’t think I would’ve reacted well. Waiting until we almost died, well, maybe not ideal either, but I can’t say I blame you,” she teased, and Bette laughed. “I always thought your laugh sounded familiar, but I didn’t want to admit it. I thought I was making up memories of her, of _you_.”

“I understand that this is a lot to take in. And I also understand if, after some time has passed, if you want nothing to do with me, least of all in the way we were before I died. I’m a monster now, and I wouldn’t want to-”

“ _You’re_ a monster?” Cleo gasped, incredulous.

“I mean, I _am_ a ghost.”

“I’m a murderer, Bette. I have hurt so, so many people, some of them that didn’t even come close to deserving it. For goodness sake, I helped a teenager run away from home and trained them to kill otherworldly horrors! If anyone is a monster here, I think it’s me.”

“Cleo…” Bette sighed, but it wasn’t as if she could refute it outright either. “We’ve both changed a lot, is what I mean to say. And it’s going to take time to figure out where we fit, and if we learn that we _don’t_ fit, then…”

Cleo flipped her hand around to hold Bette’s in her own. Her form was almost see-through now, but Cleo could still feel the warmth of her skin, the softness of her fingers as if nothing had ever come between them. 

“I know. And we’ll see. But for now… I’m just glad to have you back. You’re here, oh my god, you’re here, Bette…” Another bout of tears poured forth. 

“I haven’t seen you cry in ages,” Bette said with a somber smile, her thumb gently brushing along Cleo’s skin as best she could manage. 

“I wouldn’t let myself. I had to be strong. I had to keep fighting. You were the only person I let see me weak, because you were always strong enough for the two of us.”

“We’ve always been at our best when we’re together.”

Cleo nodded, then wiped away her tears. “I don’t know if… can I… can I kiss you?”

Bette couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m not sure how well that will work anymore, but we can definitely try it.”

She leaned in close, focusing on Cleo’s lips and hoping beyond hope that she would be able to feel her again. 

Whether it was that hope or something greater entirely, their lips met, and it felt like nothing had changed, as if Bette was still corporeal and Cleo’s face wasn’t bedecked with new scars. They were hesitant at first, unsure of how well this would work or how it would feel, but when they realized that their connection was as strong as ever, they kissed again, more desperately, making up for so much lost time. 

“I never thought I’d get to kiss you again,” Cleo breathed.

“Me neither,” Bette admitted. “But I’d hoped…”

They found themselves leaning in again, begging for another kiss to pass between them, when the door to the hospital room burst open. 

“Cleo! You’re awake!” Sam exclaimed, a bouquet of half-smashed flowers in their hands and a grin on their face. “I thought you were dead for sure! Oh!” They noticed how close Cleo and Bette – Betty – were, and slowly began to back out of the room. “Aaaand I am interrupting something, I will come back later. Bye!” And then they disappeared.

“How am I going to tell them that I’m a different me?” Bette asked rhetorically, staring into the empty space where Sam had stood. 

“We can figure that out later. For now, I believe we were in the middle of something?”

Bette giggled. “I do believe we were.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! And thank you to everyone running this event!!!
> 
> If you are interested in finding more of my writing or learning about my original characters, head on over to kellanswritingblog.tumblr.com, or feel free to come chat on my personal, celsidebottom.tumblr.com <3


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